alone. At least once a week for the last ten months, I’d convinced myself that I was done only for Vaughn to pull me back. Sometimes all it had taken was a smile. He might as well have just snapped his fingers.
Storming up to the big iron doors, I started pounding.
I pounded until my wrists were sore, my skin was red, and my fists throbbed. I was breathing fire minutes later when there was no answer. Even if there was a slim chance Vaughn had left with someone, he wouldn’t have left the gates open, especially at this time of night. Trying my luck, I gave up being polite and twisted the knob. I blinked in surprise when the door opened. Taking advantage of my good luck, I stormed the threshold and closed the door behind me. I would have slammed it if it hadn’t been so heavy. Looking around, I waited for a housekeeper or a gardener or someone to appear and kick me out. Then I remembered the holiday and the fact that it was midnight.
The house was dark and quiet, and if it hadn’t been for the polished surfaces, elegant furniture, and the smell of fresh flowers, I would have thought the place was haunted. I’d only been here twice before, and even then, I hadn’t ventured beyond the first floor. The last time was a few months ago when we’d staged an intervention for Ever, Four, Bee, and Jamie. Thinking about that morning, I shook my head. I was glad to see their little weird love square come to an end. The icing on the cake was that Jamie was almost bearable now. I’d never seen someone so obviously in love and yet so haunted by it.
The cherry on top had been witnessing one of Vaughn’s rare fits of jealousy after Jamie alluded to sleeping with me to get under his skin. And when no one else was looking, the busybody had smugly winked as if he’d proved some great argument. I remembered feeling the butterflies fluttering in my stomach the rest of the day and grudgingly admitted that Jamie definitely had given me a rare peek inside Vaughn’s mind.
My footsteps were quiet as I climbed the four marble steps leading up the two-story foyer. Even in the dark, the chandelier shimmered, highlighting the dining room’s entrance on my right and the seriously impressive library to my left. I knew that if I crossed through the dining room, I’d find a narrow hallway on the other side that led into the kitchen.
I remembered being in awe and couldn’t begin to imagine how the rest of this castle looked. The kitchen was state of the art and the shape of the room unique—like an octagon with fewer sides or whatever a square with round corners was called.
Maybe a squircle?
Laughing to myself, I pulled my phone from my back pocket, ready to patent my genius and googled:
A square with rounded corners is called a squircle.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
I made a mental note to pen a letter to whoever had beaten me to it when I heard what sounded like metal clang in the distance. Returning my phone to my back pocket, I followed the sound until I reached two sets of stairs situated between the foyer and an even larger room that resembled a small ballroom. The double sweeping staircases on each side of the small gallery led up to the second floor and down to what I could only assume was the basement.
Crossing to the side where the stairs led down and the sound of music playing heightened, I stood on the first step and wondered if this was a good idea. What if Vaughn wasn’t home after all, and it was his father I was disturbing? Suddenly, the rumors didn’t seem so farfetched as I stared into the shadows waiting for me below.
Reasoning, I pulled out my phone again and dialed Vaughn. A moment later, I heard the music stop, interrupted by the faint trill of a phone ringing down below. I heard the bang of metal again, a beat of silence, and then…
The ringing stopped.
The silence was broken a moment later by the automated prompt telling me to leave a message, and then the music played once again but much louder this time.
Releasing the air I’d been holding, I tightened my grip around my phone as I stormed down the stairs and into an even smaller gallery. Having no clue where I